Journey Book: Innovate Consolidate

Unit: Innovate Consolidate Helen O’Connor BA (Hons) Graphic Design 3261518

INNOVATE The unit brief for Innovate: Consolatdate asked us to take what we had learnt and experienced already this year in our previous units and design a solution to a problem experienced by a specific user/ demographic, in a new and exciting way.

CONSOLIDATE

My proposal for this unit is to create a platform for the loved ones who have lost someone to cancer.

This may be an app or similar but the aim is to be able to create a place where people going through this kind of bereavement have people to turn to, whether that be for chatting online, dinner’s out, companionship, or for those wanting to be a part of a charitable event/activity – an example of which would be Macmillan’s Coffee Mornings. Charity’s such as Macmillan could somehow be linked in to the platform, guiding the most vulnerable to support other than from a counselling service.

I lost my father to throat cancer in January 2015 after a four-year battle with the disease. I have firsthand experience to what cancer charity’s, hospitals, cancer specific hospitals and hospices offer to the close family members of someone going through treatment and after a terminal diagnosis. These often are counselling services, having someone to talk to outside of family and friends that are specifically there to empathize with the trauma at the time, or shortly after. However, this kind of loss

impacts life for a very long time afterwards, arguably forever, and in ways that perhaps someone who is a healthcare professional may not be able to assist with literally.

Research on the internet, and talking to my mother, led me to the places where you can get information on how to deal with all the other responsibilities after the passing of your partner, but I could not find anything other than online documents and help/how-to sheets. This problem is mirrored in support groups and information for those after a loss; when you are going through the cancer battle there are many groups that are out there that offer support, some specifically for certain types of cancer, other even more specifically for certain race/religions to attend, all of which are easily found on cancer charities websites, where you can search for what support there is in your area. However, there is nothing I could find for the months/years after losing someone. These people need support too, and to my knowledge there is little to nothing offering this already.

The Royal Marsden

“The world's first hospital dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education.�

The Royal Marsden is a cancer specific hospital and charity who relies heavily on its donations to be able to carry out their fantastic care and research. It was a place I spent a lot of time with my dad throughout his care, more so after his terminal diagnosis for his palliative care. Due to this it was my first port of call for researching what might be offered to the families of those going through such turbulent times and after someone has passed away.

I could not recall much if any support offered to us directly from the hospital or charity service; there were Macmillan nurses who worked there and became quite close to my father and ours family. These men and women did offer us support throughout his treatment and illness, whether this be by talking to them or other options they had at their disposal.

Researching on The Royal Marsden websites, their NHS Foundation Trust website and their cancer charity website, the only information and support offered was to the patient. It offered everything from support through being diagnosed, understanding diagnosis, what to expect-the list goes on. All of which can be used by patients and their carers/ loved ones during this time, but nothing for after having lost someone or dealing with that prospect.

Above: the only care page on royalmarsden.org An example of how cancer specific hospitals and charities try to enhance support through storytelling of patient care.

Right: drop down menu and links from ‘your care’ option from royalmarsden. nhs.uk A lack of reading materials and links for those who are facing losing or having lost so moneone to cancer.

Macmillan

“At Macmillan, we know how a cancer diagnosis can affect everything ...

From help with money worries and advice about work, to someone who’ll listen if you just want to talk, we’re here.”

Macmillan nurses are in contact with patients throughout their cancer journeys. Their jobs are mostly giving emotional support, as they have an understanding of the situation that other nurses and doctors may not have. They’re priceless. Macmillan also have fantastic charity events, i.e. their Coffee Mornings, with the aim of bringing people together and to make donations towards their hard work.

In my personal experience, being the loved one of a cancer patient, you do not focus or perhaps realise the support you need at the time - I did not accept their help - not because I didn’t consciously think I needed it but my focus was on my father, and nothing or no one else.

This problem is one of the reasons why I came up with my idea, this lack of ability for people to care for themselves whilst being faced with losing someone they love. Sometimes no matter how much you tell someone ‘you’ve got to look after yourself before you can look after someone else’ it never hits home until you don’t have that person to look after anymore. I don’t want to tell people how to take care of themselves or their loved ones, I want to give them a place they can explore and share that hopefully results in them caring for themselves as best as possible once they’ve had this loss.

This is an audience Macmillan have yet to support in the same way they do throughout the earlier stages and challenges.

Above: My Organsier app from Macmillan on the App Store. It is an app that allows patients to plan and save treatment information in one place/app. If I had knew about this when I was a carer I think this would have been helpful for me too, not just from a patients perspective.

Right: Macmillan cancer support website, using their ‘in your area’ search to see what support groups and activisites are available close to my home in London.

You can filter the options down to suit what you are looking for. A huge number of support groups for patents, very few if any that would appeal solely to those having lost someone.

Marie Curie

“We’re here for people living with any terminal illness, and their families.

We offer expert care, guidance and support to help them get the most from the time they have left.”

Marie Curie are a charity that care for those diagnosed with terminal illness and their families; I did not have much experience with them when my father was diagnosed, but were a huge part of my Grandpa’s care after his terminal cancer diagnosis.

They were immense during his last few weeks.

In researching what they offer online etc I was suprised what I found, after some quite lengthy investigating they do have message boards where you can ask questions about anything and an Marie Curie expert can answer your questions. Other people who have same/simialr quesries can also join the conversation. It was good to see there is something out there offering this, however there were very few replies to the amount of questions and especially the amount of veiws. Some questions had 150+ veiws but only one response. This did raise a few questions: • Was this because people didn’t find this type of help useful?

• Did people struggle to find it? and use it?

• Were people not looking for this type of conversation?

I suppose with these questions, I need to answer them all positively in my outcome to create a platform that does not suffer the same fate. It needs make people want to discuss things, easy for them to access and access the type of conversation they want/need, as well as being easy to find and simple to use.

Above: Marie Curie Blooming Great Tea Party app available on the App Store. It is extreamly dated, the last update was in May of 2010 and requires only iOS 3, whereas now Apple software is on iOS9 and up.

Right: Marie Curie online message board. There’s a wide range of topics up for disucssion, however you can see how few responses people are getting compared to how many views each post has.

TalkCancer

When I came across TalkCancer, I thought “Oh no, someone else has done it” so I downloaded the app to see if this was the case. It sounded that way from the description...

...but it did say however, that its last update was back in September 2013. This is unusual for popular apps as they need to update to fix bugs and evolve with the ever changing platforms.

To start with the app you have to fill in details about yourself, creating yourself as a user. This is as far as I got with the app, as the loading wheel would not disappear until it told me

my request had timed out.

I tried this a few times but nothing made it work. I’m quite apt with computers etc, but I am not an expert; I can only assume that the app is not in use anymore.

TalkLife

After failing to open and use TalkCancer, I went on their developers page TalkLife.

They offer another app, also called TalkLife, that is similar but instead caters to all kinds of topics.

The main topics they give in their description, school problems and mental health, lead me to believe that they aim their app at a market from about the ages of 15 years to early twenties.

Most posts seemed to come from young girls and be quite dramatic, which can be off putting to others, but it is a platform that is being used by people who are seeking help/advice.

When you post you can tell others what mood you’re in, from sad to supportive.

The app offers a external links to help maintain and moderate the app, get rid of bullies, access to

professionals and similar.

It also allows users to filter what topic of posts they would like to see, and by age group. All of these options require a log-in, which you can be Facebook

You are presented with a persons picture and with this you decide to say yes, no, or find out a bit more about them

You can press on a persons picture to see more information about them, including any mutual friends or friend of friends on Facbook and to access their Instagram account

An app that is popular with a younger demographic to most dating websites

A very popular dating app that finds matches for you in your area

You have a personal profile that you can link with your Facebook and Instagram accounts. Your settings filter potential matches and whether you apear as others potential matches

You swipe left (x) for no, right (heart) for yes and up (star) for a super like; super liking means you appear on that persons app imminently and have a blue bubble around your picture

If you both swipe right you can then chat to one another in private and exchange hone numbers etc if you wish too

Very popular with college and university students.

Lack of users when you go away from communities such as these

Uses your local area to pick what Yaks to show. This way you can partcipate in jokes/conversation that are relevent to you

You can vote up or down on each Yak, the most popular ones are added to another stream of most popular Yaks in the area Herds are trending Yaks or can be certain topics from around the glove

You can add images to the Yak to amplify your point Anonymous posting, you can share and say what you want without other users knowing who you are

A chat feature was recently added to the app

Each Yak can be pelied to and shared List of replies to a given Yak, these can also be voted up or down

You can add/change your picture, as well as whether you’re available/busy/or have something else to say

WhatsApp is a messaging app available on most smart phone platforms

It uses internet connection, Wifi or data plans, to message and call friends instead of using texts or minutes from a phone plan

You can also link Facebook to your account. You can not chat with people you do not know

It uses your phone contacts to show you who else is on Whatapp and you can send invites to join

A popular function on the app is the ability to have group messages with any number of people

Your chat bubbles are green, your friends are white; it also tells you when your message has been delivered (one blue tick), when it has been read (two ticks) and time /date of the message

Notes from a discussion with my mother and my brother about what we found lacking at the time of caring for my father and what we find difficult/ what would help us now.

• Help to organise medicines and cope with assisting changes in symptoms. Knew who we could ring, but limited to certain times. Would have been better if someone could have rang us at times.

• “Are you alright?” No one asked the right questions.

• There’s no one there just to support loved ones; a call/follow through chat once a week or so to ask the questions easily shied away from.

• Often there was no one to call to help with practicalities • My Grandpa cared for my Grandma through her early-onset Alzheimer, there were many groups and people to talk to. He was a support telephone contact for other people to talk to.

• After your loved one has passed, no one had prepared us for all the things that needed to be done, pretty instantly.

• We found having animal companionship a bit of a life saver at times. Someone to be there, to

• •

get up to feed and look after and enjoy.

Having things to do, proactive things made days easier to get through Someone of a similar age who can empathise with what you are going through, perhaps not directly involved in the loss of your loved one would be great. Talk about everything without worrying the other person will find it too distressing.

In direct conversation about an app/platform to help with these issues...

• Text responses and ability to know who is good at responding quickly, if you need it, and not if you’d prefer not ‘average replies five times a week’ • Ask questions and get responses, not necessarily a conversation. Allows for different perspectives.

• Have conversation with people who helped you the most • Only you see the replies, this eliminates trolls/ arguments between others and pushes users to use the app for themselves and not just passively scroll.

THE SOLUTION

After completing my research I have come to the conclusion that there is definitely a place on the market for this idea. I think to be most effective it would definitely be in app form, something people could access quickly and easily, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tinder etc, from the comfort of their homes or during daily commutes.

Having looked at popular apps out there, the ability to scroll through options is a key feature in all successful and popular social networking apps. As my audience would not have a definite age base, it would not only need to feel familiar to users but have new and exciting aspects that make it different to what else is offered, which in turn hopefully pushes people to want to spend time on it and get involved in conversation on this app and not so much time on their other ones.

Location is key for certain aspects of support to occur, having users create their own profiles which they can chose location(s), disclose gender, age and

reasons for joining the app would tailor what posts they see on their feeds first. The posts from people that are further away, or a lot older/younger than you would be further down the feed, still accessible but not of a priority.

The app would need to allow different grades of privacy, so users can feel comfortable sharing problems and ideas anonymously that they may feel guilt over, but also allow people to have interpersonal communication and chats without these leading back to posts shared anonymously.

It would also be great for people to start groups and ideas together so activities, fundraising, support groups and similar activities could be easily accessed and then be more successful.

As for a name, I do not know. I’m thoroughly useless at picking names for things (if I have children when I’m older they’ll probably be called ‘Number One’ and ‘Number Two’). It would need to be different, not Ronseal-esc, and something new.

CELLS

Anonymity is a key feature in the app, I need something to replace the common profile photo.

For this I thought of perhaps bringing the cancer theme a bit more into the design process; cells make up everything, they’re all different shapes sizes etc. and of course, what cancer is. Cancer cells grow and divide at a rapid pace; the cells on the app however, join and grow together as part of a community and not in isolation. Everyone’s could be different, and as users input their personal information their cell takes shape.

Cancer cells grow and divide at a rapid pace; the cells on the app join and grow as part of a community, not in isolation

Flat UI

Most apps and interfaces, including Apple recently, changed to use a flat user interface design. These designs have made using apps cleaner and more coherent. However, I like the thought of this used in conjunction with a 3d logo, like the cells, in app.

3D logo

For the cell logo and for use in the app, I imagine it to be 3D; I like the way, similarly in the examples below, the image would feel tactile and real. As the cell would be used in app, I think this would be a key touch making it better to interact with.

App launch, the cell community world appears...

Once pressed on, the world spins and zooms in with options of signing up or signing in.

Once signed up, with e-mail address not social networking sites such as Facebook, users input their personal info creating their own ID/cell.

Information such as name, age, their history with cancer and their location(s) are what creates their ID. This cannon be accessed unless user says in can.

Users press and hold cell to see if user is contactable, and any other information they offer forward.

Main feed you can scroll down and back up through.

The posts closest to the top are posts by people of similar age/location. All posts are accessible, the ones deemed least compatible will just be further down the feed.

Tap on post to expand, see more details and comment/ favourite to see later.

Swipe up menu from the bottom. This can be personalised for users favourite places on the app.

Pull down menu from top where users write their posts for the main feed.

World/community logo with highlight cells leading to updates that the app recognise as important for user to see

This bottom menu would disappear when app is being used, for example user is scrolling through the feed.

Other important features the app would offer would be a chat. Anything can be shared on the chat including personal information, this makes it possible for people to meet up if they wish to. However, there would need to be an option which would disable people you share personal info with from commenting in the future on the app so everyone can still stay anonymous if they wish to.

Another feature would be the Community that could be built in certain areas.

This would mean charitable events, dates, dinners, anything can be seen in local areas and available for people to join in if they wish too. The community aspect could also offer group conversations and ability to share articles, news etc. that is then accessible to people over and over and not lost in a feed.

App Design I wanted to do some experiementing on the computer to see how my idea’s I had drawn out would work visually. I chose a colour palette that was gender neutral, calming but had a few bright colours to be the key identifiers of the app. My skills are non-existant in creating anything three dimensional on the computer, its something I need to start experiementintg in, therefore I did not waste time tryig to create the logo/cells and focused more on creating the visuals to the left that would be the backbone of the app.

EVALUATION

I enjoyed this unit hugely, this kind of brief is something that I love to get stuck into. I work much better for a cause, more than creating for creating sake, or advertising or similar. It gave me a chance to explore a subject very close to me and my family, something I have, in my opinion, too much experience in but this gave me the opportunity to use my knowledge and experience to create and hopefully a chance to make a difference.

In my tutorials, talking to family and mentors I’ve had very good feedback, most of them saying that it’s a viable venture that I should carry on with afterwards. I hope to carry it on during my summer break, and hopefully will have an opportunity next year to do the same. I have no experience in creating apps, but I’m confident with hard work and connections through the course I can at least try; Redweb who I met with at university earlier this year, not only do a lot of work for Cancer Research UK, I think they created Marie Curie’s Blooming Great Tea App featured in my research.

I could have benefited a lot if I was able to keep on time with this unit as every input from tutors and fellow students would have been hugely beneficial to myself and development of how the use and design would work. If I carry on with this, I will definitely seek their options out.

Overall I am happy with what I produced this unit. I feel I answered the brief well, I diagnosed a problem, and designed a solution for the people dealing with cancer and bereavement because of the disease.

I’m not used to working with an idea that means so much to me; these factors pushed me and helped tremendously with struggles I’ve had with my motivation, time management and my mood.

I hope this has been the catalyst that will help me move forward at a similar pace to my peers over the next year.

OBLIGATION

to social, ethical and substainable design

Chrissy Levett Creative Conscience - open brief • 100% ethically driven • No payrolls • Built by and with people who believe this • Tinder App - adding something to something that already exists • Report without fear • Remember to put a call to action! & link to organisations already out there • Simplicity is good too • Positivity is key sometimes, tell a story, get people to want to help

Keiran & Seb 3rd Year Graphic Design Students • Do something you are about • Use your insight • It makes it easier to take ideas further

Graham Brett • • • •

Therefore Commercial product design consultants Consultancy, partnerships, ventures 200 projects a year

Anna Richell Jim Reeves • • • • • • •

• •

Gravity Light Uniquely low cost lantern Gravity Light Foundation Proof of concept, demand and feasibility Insights into user experience and engineering challenges and cost of production Deciwatt company For Crowdfunding tell a story people want to hear, make sure you can do what you promise and have a good continuous dialogue with supporters to keep them on the journey Incredibly difficult journey to market Do what you can

Marten Sims • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • • • •

•

• • •

Entrepreneurial strategist Innovation strategist Trained as a product designer Design thinking Have a structured creative process Work in good and commercial design, it makes you a better designer Sustained impact Participation and facilitation is key for designing for social good Always challenge and investigate the brief Guiding principles; human centred, collaborative and co-created, system thinking, iterative and prototyped Build things quickly to get good quality feed back as soon as possible to make outcome right and worthwhile NGOs Nokia Life Tools, Mobile 4 Good The Apricot Tree metaphor, storytelling, people learn from each other and conversation Go out, find solutions, there’s no harm in trying

Happy City • Design nerds Civic Renewal Lab Instructor/ Design facilitator Mayors Engaged City Task Force “Transdiciplinary designer” Happy City - Chicago - disconnected city Fractionation and dysregulation

DESIGN BRIDGE

About • • • • • • •

•

“Friendly family” Independent and international Brand design agency, London, Amsterdam, New York, Singapore “We create ideas that happen” Big brands - get under their skin, constant stream of work Fortnum & Mason; get things down to rule ideas out, copy-writing is important to everything Lipton, Speciality Teas; nothing is there by chance, different ways to make things feel more premium, ‘Smile in the Mind’ book, don’t forget to carry the story on inside the packaging, sell the story and journey to the client so they understand your idea Smirnoff, Peppermint; Smelly ink, new, exciting

Interviews • • • • •

Find out about the company Be yourself, show your personality Don’t say you want to go elsewhere Try not to clam up Don’t wear a suit

Portfolio • • • • • • •

Keep it simple Best ideas first and last Have pride Include sketches Don’t make excuses Be prepared for anything Have a digital and paper copy

CV • • • • • •

Advice • • • •

Read! Books, keep up to date on design blogs and social media Competitions! Get your work out there Be/think Magpie-ish when displaying work Creating great work: Get under the skin of it - what kind of person would they be?, Feed your head - understand culture, dig around and be inquisitive, Rich use of language and storytelling - tone of voice for your brand/client, The power and meaning of things - symbolism of object, and add emotion

Simple not bland No irrelevant ideas Attach examples of work Designs are visual Send it out Follow up with phone calls

Placements • • • • • •

Find out about the industry Make tea/coffee, its a good icebreaker Go the extra mile Don’t run out at the end of the day Talk to people Don’t lose contact

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